All posts by Mrs.Hesse

Hello! I am Shauna, very happily married to my soulmate, Jarrod. Proud mom to 3 boys, and proud step mom to 3 girls, and a much bigger family beyond just that... as well as furry and feathery family members. By trade, I am currently a pizza delivery driver, and I also currently bathe dogs for a groomer... and considering starting a grooming career.
I am a big believer in free self-expression. I am heavily tattooed, and I enjoy being able to wear some of my favorite images on my skin to see every day. I have always been an artistic, hippie soul. I take lots of photos, draw, sculpt, and whatever else I can get my hands on.
I am a peace-lover. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a good debate, and learning about other points of view. But when it is all said and done, I don’t hold grudges or resentments. I am good at letting go the things that upset or anger me. But I always learn from those lessons. I believe war and any type of discrimination is ridiculous, and as cliche as it may sound, I wish we could all just get along.
Anyway, to find out more about me, our family, and our life, read the blog my husband and I have created! Follow it if you like what you read, and feel free to share it with your friends. Thanks for reading!

Jarrod and I attended Riotfest in Douglas Park, Chicago, IL! Here’s the lineup:

My main reason for wanting to go was Nine Inch Nails, which I had wanted to see since my high school years – and they were AMAZING! Totally worth the 20-year wait. But Jarrod has gone quite a few years, and has sortof made a tradition out of it. There were many bands there he enjoyed seeing. Hopefully he will write a bit about it so you can hear his point of view.

Dinosaur Jr.MinistryNine Inch Nails

And just as a bonus, while Jarrod and I were driving around one night after the show was over, trying to find the nearest Wal-Mart in Chicago, I realized at one moment that we were in the neighborhood where the show Shameless takes place… which I was quite excited about! So the next day we stopped at the Gallagher house before we went back to Douglas Park.

Kev & V’s house, me in the front of the Gallagher house, under the L train bridge, and me in the back yard of the Gallagher house.Jarrod & I on the porch of the Gallagher house.

Besides the weekend-long concert that was pretty damn awesome, and the Shameless sight-seeing, we had a pretty good time as well. We spent most of the rest of our time in our hotel room, just hanging out, watching Shameless, talking, and eating delivery food. The trip there and back was pretty great too. Jarrod and I always have some pretty intense conversations, and it really makes the time fly!

Throughout my life I have involved myself in a few romantic relationships. Some seemed good at first and withered. Some were bad from the start but I settled anyway. Some were out of loneliness or desperation. Some were out of boredom and the desire for company. But ultimately, none of them worked out in the long run.

There’s that saying “someday someone will come along that will make you understand why it never worked out with anyone else.” I always wanted to believe that, but thought it to be a fantasy; an inspirational quote to keep people’s spirits up. Until it happened to me.

And now, now there’s this guy Jarrod, and he’s like no one I’ve ever met before. It started off very casually, working together and associating with each other only at work. But as time went on, we talked more and more during our shared shifts. We discovered through our conversations that we have been through a lot of the same troubles in relationships, parenting, just life in general. We discovered that we have the same beliefs on the big things, like religion and politics. We share a very similar parenting style, with a great love and appreciation for our children and family.

Then we started talking and spending time together outside of work once my ex and I split up, which is where things started to move very quickly. Days have blended together, nights have flown by, just talking and discussing our lives, and finding strong similarities at every turn, which is still continuing today. It was sudden, and crazy, but we know with absolute certainty that this will be forever. Kindred spirits, soul mates. There’s no denying it. The similarities, the comfort we find in one another, the deepest unexplainable connection we share. Being with him makes me realize why it never worked with anyone else, for real. No fantasy. And he feels the same way. It feels like we were born for each other.

We have had our children all spend time together which went well, as we both expected it to go. And we are moving quickly on moving in together. And the big news – we ran off to Colorado and got married on August 30th! Because face it, life is too short and unexpected things happen, and neither one of us wanted to waste time getting wrapped up in overthinking and hesitation over something we both know will certainly last the rest of our lifetime. We had a very private ceremony – only the 2 of us, and later on will throw a wedding for all of our friends and family… likely on our 1- or 2-year anniversary.

The trip was great! I had never been to Colorado, and Jarrod hadn’t been in many years. We drove there and back, and stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast called Meadow Creek Mountain Lodge. It’s just southwest of Denver. The bed and breakfast had a hot tub, a heavenly king sized bed, and the owner was a pretty great guy too, and made a wonderful breakfast for us. We were able to run around Denver a bit and shop for our rings, and have supper there in Denver. Then we enjoyed alone time and slept in before we had to head back to Iowa.

We have both agreed to put this blog post out there for the public because we both know there will be people in our lives who will not understand why we would move so fast, or make such a crazy, bold, impulsive decision. We are both very aware that is what we are doing. But we are here to say that it is OUR decision to make, and we would love your support and understanding, whether or not you understand our reasoning. We are very thrilled with our decision, and don’t regret a thing!